The joy found in cleaning the church

I hate house work. I do it grudging almost every time, about the only thing I hate worse is camping. A post for tomorrow.

So I find it interesting that I love cleaning our chapels. It is just a nice quiet experience, me and a vacuum cleaner in a zone of our own going up and down the pews, picking up a pencil here, a grape there, and cheerios everywhere.

It amazes me how much crap is left on our carpets in the chapel, I usually look guiltily around our own seating to ensure we have not left any piles. Thankfully it does not happen often. Still I know often that we can be cavalier with how we treat our buildings (wander around some of the class rooms around Easter/Christmas when there are crumbs, chocolate and other goodies everywhere.

So why do I enjoy this service more than any other? I find it is not stressful, it is a demand that only comes up occasionally and other service projects my two older boys have always volunteered for happily. So for me it has become a family affair. That in and of itself makes it worth while.

One of my other reasons, not an unimportant one, is that it allows me a quiet period in a church where kids are not pestering, or needing moved, or having to listen to anyone else. In a way it is like the celestial room, where peacefulness reigns and one can consider life at different level. Often I find it almost soothing and on days where my concerns are overcoming my life it is a welcome break.

So I if I could recommend one act of service, which has a feeling for me of perfect serenity, pick up a vacuum and suck up the cheerios.

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Post navigation

8 Responses to The joy found in cleaning the church

Jon! Thank you so much for the link in your sidebar! boy, I am so happy! can’t wait to get home to tell my wife about this. I am also putting you in my sidebar link. Thank you again for the visit. Cleaning the chapel is one of the best service we can do cause we feel like we do clean the house of God. I feel so good doing the cleaning in the chapel but why we dont feel that way when we clean our house? hehe

I am looking for scripture about cleaning the church. I a teaching about to teach a group and just wanted some insight to share the importance of being a good, dedicated, humble, and thorough person for God.

Carol: I always use the scripture text D&C 88:119. This chapter tells about the temple, but I will quote 119 when I instruct the members about cleaning the church. Can this help you?
The Hague ward in the Netherlands.

Can I simply just say what a comfort to find a person that truly knows what they are talking about over the internet. You certainly know how to bring a problem to light and make it important. More people have to check this out and understand this side of your story. I can’t believe you’re not more popular given that you certainly have the gift.

Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all people you really recognize what you’re talking approximately! Bookmarked. Please also seek advice from my website =). We may have a link trade arrangement between us

We are a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community.
Your web site provided us with valuable information to work on.
You’ve done a formidable job and our entire community will be thankful to you.